Males and Honor Contest Violence

Abstract

This article examines characteristic elements of male violence that take the form of honor contests. Several examples are drawn from previous investigations of male violence to emphasize that honor contests cross historical and cultural boundaries. Next it analyzes three features of honor contests: (a) characteristics of those who participate (usually male, young, and lower class); (b) the settings where such violence occurs (leisure scenes where young working-class males can circulate and where their leisure involves consumption of alcohol and an audience of other males for the violent episodes); and (c) the interactional dynamics of these contests (consisting of opening moves, countermoves, and then a working agreement to engage in violence). Recognition of this form of violence will contribute to a better-informed theoretical discussion of the masculine nature of lethal violence than is possible through more conventional categories of classification of either social relationships or motivations in cases of homicide.

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